Budget Travel - To get from Baltimore to JFK on budget

Hello.
I will be flying to Ukraine from JFK, and I need to get to the airport on a budget. The airline I'll use allows 2 70 lbs bags of baggage, and I am going to use most of it. Because of the heavy luggage, I can't fly BWI-JFK, riding a subway from Manhatten is also out of question. I know that the cheapest way to NYC is chinese bus- only $20 one way, but they will drop me off in Manhatten, probably in Chinatown, and I am not sure what would be the best way to proceed from there.

Thanks

Can you ship some of your luggage to your destination? If taking less luggage with you means that you can take the Chinese bus and the subway, or some cheap flight with a smaller luggage limit, that may counterbalance the cost of shipping.

Might try a rental car. But need to check on the one-way drop charge - might make that impractical.

Hello.
I will be flying to Ukraine from JFK, and I need to get to the airport on a budget. The airline I'll use allows 2 70 lbs bags of baggage, and I am going to use most of it. Because of the heavy luggage, I can't fly BWI-JFK, riding a subway from Manhatten is also out of question. I know that the cheapest way to NYC is chinese bus- only $20 one way, but they will drop me off in Manhatten, probably in Chinatown, and I am not sure what would be the best way to proceed from there.

Thanks
genka, I am going to move this thread to the Budget Travel forum. I believe you will receive a lot of good advice on that forum.
Good luck
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

You can take the train to Penn Station and then take the subway to JFK? Sorry I know you said subway is out of question but I don't know what would be better. As someone else suggested, maybe a one-way rental?

I find that there is more room on the E train subway then on the LIRR Long Island Railroad trains from Penn Station to Jamaica Station (In Queens).

I have carried my 70lb+ steamer trunk (using a wheeled cart) to JFK from the E train. This is not ideal, but if traffic is congested, the E train can be faster than a taxi.

I would recommend that you buy a wheeled cart and some bungee cords and make sure in advance that you can move your luggage yourself. This includes being able to get up an escalator. There are escalators rather than elevators at some of your connections (The Sutphin Avenue station from the track to the concourse and, I believe, Penn Station, which requires at least one escalator.

If you cannot handle your luggage yourself, you will need to pay for assistance, probably by renting a one-way car and driving to JFK, where you can pay a porter to check your bags. Then (give yourself an hour for this next step) return the car and take the free AirTrain back to JFK.

I don't know much about NYC taxis, but isn't there a flat fee to JFK? You could always take the chinatown bus into Manhatten and take a cab from there. If there is a flat fee, it'd be around $60 total. Not as cheap as the subway/train but WAY easier, and definitely cheaper than flying. After studying abroad and hauling three 70 lbs suitcases all over the London Underground, I'd definitely advise going for "easy."

If you can carry the luggage, the Chinatown bus to the subway is the best bet.

If you get dropped off in Chinatown, take the Brooklyn-bound F train (which stops on East Broadway) to Jay St. in Brooklyn and walk across the platform to switch to the Queens-bound A train which will take you to the JFK AirTrain at Howard Beach (make sure you get a "Rockaway" A train and not a "Lefferts Blvd" A train).

If the bus drops you in midtown, take the Queens-bound E train (34th and 8th Ave) to Sutphin Blvd for the JFK AirTrain. Or if you get dropped off nearer 6th Ave, take the F train (34th and 6th) to Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike and switch to the E to Suthphin Blvd for the JFK AirTrain.

Note that there are elevators for the Queens-bound E at 34th and 8th Ave (I think it's on the southwest corner of 34th and 8th) and at Sutphin Blvd to change from the E to the AirTrain. The elevators may be stinky (homeless people have a tendency to use subway elevators as latrines), but they'll save you from lugging your 140lbs of luggage up/down stairs.

If you can't carry the luggage, a one-way rental car is probably your best bet.

I don't know much about NYC taxis, but isn't there a flat fee to JFK?

There is a flat fare from JFK to Manhattan, but not from Manhattan to JFK. A taxi from Manhattan to JFK will cost somewhere between $45-75 with tip, depending on the route you take (tolls, distance) and how bad traffic is (you pay extra to sit in traffic).

One more option:

Take the Chinatown bus to Manhattan, then take Supershuttle (http://supershuttle.com/htm/cities/nyc.htm) or a similar service to JFK. Supershuttle is only about $19 for a single passenger in a shared van, and they'll allow you to take two 70lb bags.

The only tricky part is going to be timing your arrival on the chinatown bus with your pickup by Supershuttle. You'll probably want to leave at least an hour buffer, since the Chinatown buses are often late. And Supershuttle will need to pick you up quite a while before your flight, since they often have to pick up several more people after you before heading to the airport. So it's going to be an all-day ordeal getting to the airport.

Bottom line:
If you take a Chinatown bus from Baltimore to Manhattan you have three choices:
Cheapest = Queens-bound E train to Sutphin Ave or Brooklyn/Queens-bound A train to Howard Beach ($2 for subway + $5 for AirTrain)
Cheap and help with luggage, but a hassle to connect = Supershuttle ($19)
Expensive but extremely convenient = taxi ($45-75 depending on routing/traffic)

For maximum convenience, however, you should look into simply renting a car one-way.

Find out which bus line from Baltimore has the closest connection with bus service from Manhattan to JFK, possibly take a short cab ride to connect.

http://www.staticleap.com/chinatownbus/

http://www.panynj.gov/aviation/jgtsmain.htm

And if anyone offers help with your bags tell them there is a dead dog in them.

"YOU KNOW WHO LIKES FUNNY STORIES?"
http://www.sliozis.com/archive/2005_07_01_archive.php

Thanks a lot for the help! So many ideas, I am still digesting. I am strong enough to haul my bags around, but I'm afraid that the subway is not a good place for this exercize. I figured that I'll have a backpack for carryon, so I'll have to use 2 rolling bags for the luggage. I don't know how it can work out in rowded NY subway, but hey, it may be another adventure :)
I so several advices on one way car rental. Do you mean to rent it from Baltimore or from Manhatten? One way drop-off charges are usually steep, and airports are even worse.

Do you mean to rent it from Baltimore or from Manhatten? One way drop-off charges are usually steep, and airports are even worse.

The most convenient solution would be to rent in Baltimore, drive to where you're staying (your home?) to pick up your bags, then drive to JFK and drop off there.

You should price it out both ways. My guess is that renting in Manhattan won't be cheaper than a taxi, though.

I looked up one way rental from Baltimore, it is about $100. With tolls and gas it will be about $300 roundtrip, and do't forget 4 hours of driving in boring car on a boring road.

I looked up one way rental from Baltimore, it is about $100. With tolls and gas it will be about $300 roundtrip, and do't forget 4 hours of driving in boring car on a boring road.

Tolls and gas from BWI-NYC, while expensive, are not $200. I think wherever you got that gave you some bad information. The tolls are probably about $20-$30 total one-way (they keep going up, so maybe closer to $30 than $20 nowadays) and gas for that trip should be under $30 unless you are driving an SUV.

Also, I'm not sure why you mentioned roundtrip when this would be a one way rental.

The drive would be just as boring in a bus, it's just someone else doing the driving. And possibly weird people on the bus to keep you amused. :)

Everyone seems to love the Chinatown buses, but they leave you off at a fairly inconvenient location on East Broadway.

For only $5 more ($25 vs. $20), Greyhound (http://www.greyhound.com/scripts/en/TicketCenter/esavers.asp) will take you directly to Port Authority Bus Terminal where you can connect with the New York Airport Service (http://www.nyairportservice.com/manhattan_jfk.html) bus to take you to JFK for $15. $40 total, and you only have to schlep your bags from one bus to another within the bus terminal.

Well, I will have to get back home eventually, and I calculated round trip costs for convinience. I alloted $50 for gas and tolls, with $100 for one way rental it will cost $300 R/T.
Chinese bus to Penn Station is $20 each way, and bus from Penn station to JFK is $15, for total of $70 R/T. The schedule is not very convinient, but it should do.

Oh, I get it. You are going to have to do two one-way rentals because you have to get to the airport for your flight out, and then home on the way back, but it's not practical to leave the rental car because you'll be gone for too long.